Refrigerator car construction



Dec. 31, 1940. L N 2,226,764

REFRIGERATOR CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 21,- 1939 Patented Dec. 31, 1940 1 UNITED STATES REFRIGERATOR CAR CONSTRUCTION Garth G. Gilpin, Riverside, I1l., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Standard Railway Refrigerator Company, a corporationof Delaware Application October 21, 1939, Serial No. 300,525

14 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerator cars used to transport perishable commodities at a predetermined temperature. The essential features of such a car are an insulated structure and a refrigerating means for use in warm weather or a heating means for use in cold weather.

The invention rel-ates particularly to refrigerator cars of the overhead bunker type. Cars of this type have the refrigerant containers suspended immediately below the roof. They are often provided with drip pans below the containers to form refrigerant compartments below the roof and adjacent the side walls of the car. It is also common to provide vertical flues associated with the side walls and extending to near the floor. These flues serve as passages for the flow of refrigerated air from the refrigerant compartment to below the floor racks of the car so that it may circulate upwardly through the lading. The flues also serve to drain 01f melted refrigerant when a foraminous or semi-foraminous container is used or condensation from the container when liquid retaining tanks are used.

Each side wall of a refrigerator car is provided with a door through which lading is transported into the car. These doors must be large enough to allow passage of a truck therethrough and are usually about four feet wide. The refrigeration of the car is dependent upon cold air circulating downwardly through the above mentioned flues which are associated with the side Walls of the car. I

The refrigerating efficiency is increased by having the melted refrigerant circulate with the air to further cool the air during passage through the side wall flues and to further insulate the walls of the car.

To interrupt a flue for a distance of four feet would obviously lessen the refrigerating efiiciency, particularly since the interruption would be at the doorway where more refrigeration is desirable to overcome the effect of insulation deficiencies at the door .l'oints.

The problem of maintaining adequate refrigeration adjacent the doorway has been solved by providing flues or ducts on the doors. When the doors are closed, the ducts are aligned with the side wall flues to form a continuous passage for the air and liquid from the refrigerant compartment to the lower part of the car. In other words, the operation is as if the doors were nonexistent.

When the doors are opened, however, the passage becomes discontinuous and the liquid which was flowing through the duct in the door falls through the doorway. The lading which is hauled through the doorway is often of a type which may be damaged by water. Furthermore, the clothing of the workers would be made moist by the cold liquid, thus creating unpleasant and hazardous working conditions in addition to the danger of having a costly lading damaged.

The amount of liquid flowing through the side wall flues is usually increased by the opening of the doors. Heat enters the car and melts more refrigerant, thus causing a greater flow of liquid. There must also be considered the fact that refrigerator cars are often loaded before they are completely precooled. Precooling melts re'fr'igerant at a rapid rate with a consequent large amount of liquid flowing through the flues.

The object of this invention is to provide a means to prevent the dripping of liquid upon lading and workers which are passing through the doorway during loading or unloading of the car. It is a further object to prevent the aforesaid dripping without impairing in any way the normal flow of air and liquid through the door duct when the door is closed. The operation of the device which I claim as my invention will be completely described by referring to the drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a transverse section through the doorway of a refrigerator car embodying my invention, the door being in a closed position.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the flue and door duct as indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged View similar to a portion of Fig. 1 showing a modified form of my invention.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing another modification.

The general parts of the refrigerator car shown are insulated roof 2; side wall 3; floor 4; refrigerant container 5; side wall flue 1; foraminous floor rack 8 and space 9 between rack 8 and floor 4. A refrigerant container 6 is positioned directly below the roof 2 and adjacent the side wall 3. A drip pan I2 is provided below the container 6 and a partition 14 is secured in an upstanding position at the edge of the drip pan 42. The drip pan i2 and partition I l cooperate with the roof 2 and side wall 3 to form an enclosing structure I 1 around the container 6, an air inlet opening l5 being provided by spacing the partition Hi from the roof 2. An air discharge opening I! which leads to the flue 1 is formed by spacing the drip pan l2 from the Wall 3. A doorway is provided through the side wall 3 and flue l a pair of doors 20 are adapted to close the doorway, the doors 20 having associated therewith ducts 2| which are aligned with the flue I when the doors are closed.

Air circulation is as follows: Air in the lading compartment I8 is warmed by contact with the lading and rises to enter the enclosing structure ll through the air inlet opening I5. The air is cooled by contact with the refrigerant container 6 and falls by reason of its greater density through the discharge opening l1. Adjacent the doorway, the cold air flows through the portion 23 of the flue 1 above the doorway and through the ducts 2| to the space 9. Remote from the doorway, the cold air flows through the portion 24 of the flue 1 to the space 9. The cold air then rises through the rack 8 to the lading compartment IS. The solid arrows 26 in the drawing indicate air flow. Cars of this type usually have a row of refrigerant containers near each wall and directly below the roof so that air flowing from the lading compartment flows between the containers disposed on opposite sides of the car.

The refrigerant container 6 shown in the drawing has an imperforate lower portion 30 and a foraminous upper portion 3|, although it is to be undertsood that the invention is not limited to containers of this type. Melted refrigerant overflows through the openings 32 in the upper portion 3! and downwardly through the flue I to the floor of the car from where it may be drained off by any suitable means. The liquid remote from the doorway flows through the portion 24 of the flue l. The liquid adjacent the doorway flows through the portion 23 of the flue. The liquid in the portion 23 is received by a trough 35 disposed in the portion 23, preferably adjacent the wall 36 thereof. It is pointed out that liquid flowing from the drip pan I2 into the flue portion 23 naturally descends the flue in close proximity tothe wall 35. The trough 35 is made relatively narrow in comparison to the flue width to allow a space 38 for the flow of air to the duct 2|. Fig. 3 shows a modification in which the wall 3 of the car is provided with a recess 39 to provide a larger space for flow of air to the duct 2 I.

Means are provided to dispose of the liquid received by the trough 35. As shown in Fig. 2, the trough 35 is preferably extended over the tops of the parts 40 of the door posts so that liquid in the trough 35-flows into the flue portion 24 on one side or the other of the doorway. The trough 35 may be sloped toward both sides of the doorway, as shown in Fig. 2, or toward only one side, as shown in Fig. 4. The dotted arrows 42 in the drawing show the flow of the liquid or melted refrigerant.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and a trough arranged to catch liquid descending the flue above said doorway.

2. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and a trough below the flue above said doorway.

3. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and a trough in said flue above the doorway to catch said liquid.

4. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of thecar, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and a trough in said flue above the doorway to catch said liquid, said trough being narrow relative to said flue to permit passage of air thereby.

5. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue positioned so that a portion of said flue is disposed on one side thereof, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and a trough in said flue above the doorway to catch said liquid, said trough being narrow relative to said flue to prevent passage of air thereby, said trough protruding into the flue adjacent said doorway for discharge of liquid thereto.

6. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue positioned so that a portion of said flue is disposed on one side thereof, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and a trough in said flue above the doorway to catch said liquid, said trough being narrow relative to said flue to permit passage of air thereby, a portion of said trough protruding into the flue adjacent said doorway and being inclined downwardly theretoward.

7. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue positioned so thata portion of said flue is disposed on either side thereof, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, a trough in said flue above the doorway to catch said liquid, said trough being narrow relative to said flue to permit passage of air thereby, a portion of said trough protruding into the flue adjacent said doorway and being inclined downwardly toward the flue on either side of said doorway.

8. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and means to prevent flow of liquid through said doorway when the door is open.

9. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a vertical wall to conduct air and liquid to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, and means to prevent flow of liquid through said duct when the door is closed.

10. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a wall of said car arranged to conduct air and liquid from said means to the lower part of the car, an opening through said flue, and a trough within said flue above said opening.

11. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a wall of said car and defined by a pair of spaced apart members, said flue being arranged to conduct air and liquid from said means to the lower part of the car, an opening in one of said members, and a trough within said flue above said opening.

12. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a wall of said car'and defined by a pair of spaced apart members, said flue being arranged to conduct air and liquid from said means to the lower part of the car, an opening in one of said members, and a trough within said flue above said opening, one end of said trough extending to beyond said opening.

13. In a refrigerator car having refrigerating means adjacent the roof, a flue associated with a wall of said car and defined by a pair of spaced apart members, said flue being arranged to conduct air and liquid from said means to the lower part of the car, an opening in one of said members, and a trough within said flue secured to said last mentioned member above said opening, said trough being narrow relative to said flue to permit passage of air thereby.

I .14. In a refrigerator car having a wall, a flue associated with said wall, a doorway through said wall and said flue, a door adapted to close saiddoorway, a duct associated with said door and arranged to align with said flue when the door is closed, refrigerating means adjacent the upper part of said wall, means to direct air and liquid from said refrigerating means into the upper part of said flue, and means arranged to prevent flow of liquid through said doorway when the door is open and to permit flow of air through said duct when the door is closed.

GARTH G. GILPJN. 

